South Jersey Port Corporation tab shot down by Christie

Saturday, May 14, 2011

By John Barna

jbarna@sjnewsco.com

More than $3,000 in expenses incurred by the South Jersey
Port Corporation Ð including $1,706 in food and drink at
restaurants in Philadelphia and New Orleans Ð have been
rejected by Gov. Chris Christie, the 22nd time in 17 months
that the governor has exercised his veto power over the
minutes of the state's authorities, commissions and
boards.

Christie, in a letter sent Friday afternoon to port
corporation Executive Director Joseph Balzano, suggested
"methods of business development used in the private
sector such as Ôwining and dining' potential customers
are not recommended for use in the public sector."

The port corporation spent $834 at La Veranda in
Philadelphia and $872 at Tommy's Cuisine in New
Orleans. The expenses occurred between March 17 and April
13. Tommy's is a "classic Creole Italian"
restaurant in the Louisiana city's warehouse district,
according to its website. La Veranda is at Penn's
Landing, across from the Port Corporation's Beckett
Street Camden terminal, and serves Northern Italian cuisine.

The restaurant expenses included the purchase of alcohol,
the governor noted.

"These are not expenses that the taxpayers of New
Jersey should be expected to bear," the governor wrote
Balzano.

The expenses were submitted for reimbursement under
"business development" involving the Port of
Camden, said Michael Drewniak, spokesman for Christie.

The port corporation's commissioners Ð which include
Gloucester County Administrator Chad Bruner Ð approved the
two reimbursements at its April 26 meeting. Christie has
veto power over the agency's minutes and 10 business
days to act.

"I recognize the importance of generating new business
for the SJPC," Christie wrote of an agency whose
responsibilities include the new Port of Paulsboro, the Port
of Salem Terminal and two ports in Camden. "However,
SJPC is not private industry and is subsidized by the
state."

"It is incumbent upon the SJPC to create innovative
ways of attracting business to the SJPC without incurring
unnecessary expenditures inappropriate for the public
sector."

Christie observed in his letter to Balzano that "a
review of previously submitted expense reports approved by
the board for business development also shows excessive
restaurant bills, including alcohol."

Port Corporation Solicitor Raymond Zane said he had not seen
the governor's letter when contacted by a reporter.

"I imagine the board will examine it again," Zane
said of the rejected expenses.

So who should be stuck with the two tabs?

"It is not a luxury that should be on the
public's dime," Drewniak said, not elaborating.